Sheila Nevins Taps Into the MTV Generation

Sheila Nevins, the award-winning executive producer, is taking a different approach in her new role as head of MTV Documentary Films to speak to a younger generation.
Her first three films for MTV are “St. Louis Superman,” “Gay Chorus Deep South” and “17 Blocks.” During a conversation Tuesday with Thom Powers, artistic director of DOC NYC, she revealed several new projects she is developing for 2020.
One documentary is by Alexandra Pelosi with the working title, “America on Selfies.” Pelosi, who previously directed the documentary “Journeys With George,” among others for HBO,  is traveling cross-country and taking the temperature of America, visiting monuments; where people were shot to death; a gun store, and a flower store. “She’s an old-time filmmaker in a young woman’s body,” said Nevins.
Nevins, who was previously president of HBO Documentary Films, said Pelosi loves selfies “because people want to record their life and say ‘I was there.’ There’s a claiming of ‘look at me,’ at the same time there’s a sense of despair and a certain kind of desperation through the heartland,” she said.
A second movie is about the increase of young suicides in America. “It’s very interesting to me. The largest number is middle-aged men, but 14

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